Pit Bull Attack

This is a discussion on Pit Bull Attack within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; My wife and I daily walk a 2.2 mile loop through our neighborhood. The route takes us past the river and meanders through roads we ...

Pit Bull Attack

My wife and I daily walk a 2.2 mile loop through our neighborhood. The route takes us past the river and meanders through roads we have walked a thousand times. About 4:30 pm we were attacked by a large, black, pit bull. The dog came out of a back yard dragging a length of rope that was apparently used to restrain him. My wife, was very frightened and froze as the dog began to lunge toward us. I shouted at him and kicked at his head but wasn't successful in scaring him away. My wife's fingers were clenching my left arm as I took a .22 Beretta pistol out of my pocket. At this time I'm thinking, "If I shoot this SOB I'll be explaining things to the police for the rest of the afternoon." With that I pointed the gun directly at the ground at my side and fired one shot, thinking that I'd shoot him if he continued to be agressive. After the single shot the dog absolutely froze. Mouth open, tongue hanging out, not a twitch, itch or sound. We walked around him, gun at ready and continued on our way. As I looked back the dog remained frozen in the middle of the street. Neither of us spoke. Later, at dinner, I asked her what she thought about what had happened? Her only comment was, "I am really glad you had that little pistol." Needless to say, so was I.

I’m disappointed that you didn’t kill the damn thing… What if you walked off and the dog ran off and attacked some little kid or anyone else for the matter? Had I been in your position, that dog would have been dead, right on the spot. I would have killed the dog, re-holstered my weapon and walked away.

That's a fairly scary position to be in. Had to warn an old neighbor that his dog had used up it's one free pass when the dog got aggressive towards me in my back yard. He claimed it wasn't his dog, I told him he could decide that while ID'ing the body if it happened again.

I Don't Agree With The Warning Shot...

as THAT could have gotten you into some difficulty.
Perhaps this would have been a great time for some heavy duty pepper spray. This would have prevented questions about shooting within city limits, a spent round that hit something, brandishing...etc.
If the dog continued the attack after being sprayed, the shot would have been justified!

I live in Southern California, in a desert community. The shot was fired into the dirt shoulder. I used to carry pepper spray and decided that a cell phone, pocket knife, car keys and a small pistol was using up my pockets. I have regretted not shooting the dog and a deputy sherrif told me the biggest hassle would have been disposing of the carcass.

Any aggressive large dog can be dangerous and a fierce dog attack severely crippling or fatal especially to children.

An interesting fact presented just FYI

Some people contend that "pit bulls" are especially likely to cause fatalities when they do attack, due to their strong jaws and their tendency to clamp on to their victim when attacking.
However, although American pit bull terriers are indisputably powerful dogs, there is no scientific evidence showing them to have a stronger bite than other large dog breeds.
In fact, when Dr. Brady Barr of National Geographic (Dangerous Encounters: Bite Force, 8/18/2005) measured the bite forces of three dog breeds using a computerized bite sleeve, the American Pit Bull Terrier generated the least amount of pressure out of the 3 dogs tested,
(the other two dogs were a German Shepherd Dog and a Rottweiler.

I think my concern would be the caliber size. I've owned a pit and worked with a good breeder in the past. This is a dog that can really soak up some damage and keep coming. Personally, I think he'd respond faster to OC than a .22 unless it was a really well placed shot.

In my experience there has been more problems with idiot owners and back yard breeders who don't have a clue what they've got than the breed in general. The breeder I knew fought against dog fighting and worked hard to screen owners. Certainly not a dog for a casual owner and the owner of that dog sounds like another one in the idiot category. I hope the attack was reported?

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good. ~ Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

Chemical Sprays

About 8 years ago a good friend and I took five of our children back packing in the San Gabriel Mountains, here in Southern California. After we put the kids into a couple of tents we stretched out our sleeping bags under an oak tree and fell asleep. A few hours later I was awakend by a bear tearing my back pack open. The back pack was at the foot of my sleeping bag! We chased the bear off and he returned repeatedly, each time becoming more agressive. We left the campsite at first dawn and went home without anyone being hurt. It wasn't a good night.

Not wanting to carry a pistol I purchased a can of bear mace and carried that clipped to my back pack for the next four years. One day, when preparing for another back packing trip with a troop of Boy Scouts I decided to test whether or not the can was still pressurized. I walked out into the street and with a very stiff wind at my back I loosed a short burst of spray away (down wind) from me.

I can't imagine a more ideal circumstance, a 20 mph breeze at my back to carry the spray away. A very satisfying cloud of red fog blew away from me, BUT something eddied back and got me in the face. My sinus cavity re enacted the Chernobyl meltdown. I staggered back to the house with my eyes scrunched shut and found the hose. After 15 minutes I could open my eyes and walked into the house only to be greeted by the hilarious laughter as my wife and sons heard what had happened. I decided that if I ever had to use that spray that both I and the bear would be affected. If I recovered first all would be well, if not I'd be Cajun seasoned.

I gave the bear spray to someone I didn't like and started carrying a .357 SP101. Chemical sprays make a lot of sense on paper.

Glad you walked away from the situation intact! I talked to a gentleman who had his horse attacked by a pit bull. He had a .22 rifle, and shot the dog 5 times; the dog continued the attack with no sign of being shot. By the time he could get and load his shotgun, the dog had gone home; apparently it also survived. It was owned by a gang member. You were lucky that you didn't have to test the .22s stopping power!

You're right!

I'm really glad I didn't have to find out the hard way if a .22 would stop a pit bull. The classic trade off is the .41 mag sitting in my gun safe at home vs the .22 in my pocket. In this case I was twice lucky. Lucky to have any gun and lucky I didn't have to find out if it would be effective.